Employment
Having a job is key to being able to provide for yourself and your family.
In these tough economic times we’re working hard to help people stay in work, or get a job if they are not already in work. For those who can’t find work, we will be here to help, but our first priority will always be to get people back into the workplace as soon as possible.
Our local labour market
Agriculture, horticulture, viticulture, education, health and defence are our main industries. In this economic environment we need to think smarter about how we do things. Changing how we work with employers is one way we are doing this. Knowing what our employers need and matching people’s skills to those needs, will see us get results for employers and for people looking for work. Training people so they have the skills needed by Central’s employers is an important step.
We are working with seasonal employers to overcome transport and training problems, and to build the skills of people who are not traditionally seen as sources of labour.
The demand for reliable seasonal labour for our region’s growing horticulture and viticulture industries is challenging. Some of the issues we are working on with employers include getting the workers in our region to and from work (travel can be difficult), competition for workers from neighbouring regions, the short duration of seasonal work, and the need for a reliable labour force.
Working with employers
In May 2009 we co-hosted a regional employment summit with our economic partners in Palmerston North to maintain the momentum of the Job Summit.[1]At the summit, information and ideas were presented to help employers and businesses respond quickly to changing economic conditions. We are working with the region’s economic development agencies to produce a response plan unique to our part of the country. Key areas for development include new market development, keeping and developing our workforce and workplaces, strategic planning, improving communications and attracting skilled and talented employees while continuing to support jobseekers in the local community.
Industry/employer partnerships
We work with industries at a national level to minimise skill and labour shortages, and to maximise job opportunities. We currently have 80 national industry and major employer partnerships. These partnerships include those with major industries like agriculture, construction and hospitality. We also have partnerships with regional Chambers of Commerce and large employers like Telecom, Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Westpac and McDonald’s. We are promoting Local Industry Partnerships to local businesses to support them with skilled staff where there is a potential to grow.
In the Central Region we have formed industry partnerships with the caregiving, retail, hospitality, agriculture and dairy, apparel and textile, and viticulture sectors.
Our regional partners include Nature Coast, Vision Manawatu and the Wairarapa Workforce Development Trust, industry training organisations, local councils across the region and the MidCentral, Wairarapa and Capital and Coast District Health Boards.
In 2009/2010 we already have plans to run industry partnership programmes, and we will develop more programmes as we identify other industry partners. We will also make more places available for our young people in these industry partnership programmes.
Straight 2 Work
We run Straight 2 Work programmes with most of our industry and employer partners. These programmes offer pre- and post-employment training and support. They are developed by industry for industry, making the training relevant to the needs of employers. We have seven programmes in the Central region that range from the retail and hospitality sector, to business and administration and building and construction.
Help keep businesses going
Businesses with more than 50 staff that are experiencing a temporary downturn can get extra help from us through the Job Support Scheme. The scheme pays an allowance for those workers who agree to work reduced hours. This means employers can keep as many jobs as possible while firms’ earnings are down. Right now we are helping businesses through this scheme in the Central Region.
Getting people into work
Our ‘Work First’ focus
We are finding that the type of person coming to us for job search help has changed - they have more skills and a different expectation of our services. This has meant that we have had to respond to better meet their needs.
We have changed our service delivery model to assess how quickly we can get people back into work. We have improved the ease of finding work for self driven jobseekers, improved our services to employers, and ensured that appropriate job vacancies are made more readily available. If a person loses their job, it’s important they find another one quickly. They are more likely to be attractive to employers while their skills are current and they still have confidence.
We want people in our region to get into work and to stay in work. In 2009/2010 we’ll:
- form partnerships with local industries and employers to help them get the right people with the right skills
- make sure jobseekers have the right information about our local labour market, and have the tools to access it.
Help for people affected by redundancy
Despite a business’s best efforts to stay afloat, there will be times when it’s not enough. Our redundancy support team co-ordinates with Career Services and Inland Revenue to support employers and employees affected by redundancy.
For people who have been made redundant and can’t find other work, we deliver the ReStart package. ReStart offers financial help for up to 16 weeks for those people who have been made redundant and need extra help. So far, we have been able to help 243 people in our region.[2]
